Philips 755 mobile phone

Will you take to 'Tag it'?

Common Topics

Review With so many manufacturers making mobile phones, companies have to come up with more and more inventive ways to make you to want to choose their models over their competitors' products. To that end, we've seen a whole host of new technologies that even five years ago, you would have judged to be preposterous, writes Stuart Miles.

Philips' gambit on this is the inclusion of a touch screen so you can "tag" the pictures you've taken with the built-in digital camera. Using words like "Tag it!" written in graffiti on the phone to us smacks of marketing hype and unfortunately for Philips it seems to be nothing more.

The first problem is the design of the phone. Square and flat, the handset neither looks pretty nor easy to use. For a phone that's got graffiti writing on it, it looks very staid and business-like. Rather than expect you to use your mitts to touch the screen, Philips, taking a similar view to Sony Ericsson with the P900 series, has included a flat stylus that bolts on to the side of the phone. Whether it's because we're used to the P900 series, but to a right-handed user, the stylus was on the wrong side. What's more, the stylus is almost impossible to get out of the cradle. Yet Philips is so worried that you might lose them, it throws a couple more in the box for good measure.

Keys are flat and almost impossible to use without selecting other keys and attempting to avoid the usual joystick issues - ie. getting caught on your pocket - Philips has made it so flat that likewise it's hard to use.

It's not all bad with the style - a nice touch is a camera lens cover on the rear of the phone that slides up and down shutter style. Additionally the 755 does have a large colour screen for seeing what you are taking a picture of and of course doubling as a table for the "Tag it!" element.

"Tag it!" is the idea that you'll take a picture and then want to write over it before you send it to your business colleague or friend. Pressing the "Tag it!" button when not in camera mode will bring up a rudimentary drawing package that gives you basic options like line thickness, colour and text. The interface looks like something I wrote in BBC Basic at school 20 years ago and for some reason you have to select everything twice to get it to work, once to select it and another to use it.

Verdict

With no Bluetooth, a VGA camera, a poor menu system and a USP that isn't really that exciting when you come to use it, there is unfortunately little to like about this model.

What we do like, although find highly impractical, is the TV link that comes in the box allowing you to share your photos on a television. We like it, because it's a nice idea, and saves you messing around with Bluetooth dongles. However, it's impractical because it's large and cumbersome and will really only be used when you've got a bag to carry it.

It's a small gripe, but maybe if we were left-handed we could get used to the stylus being where it is and maybe if we really felt the need to write over our images before we send them to people then this might find a home. As it is, competing against models such as the P910i, it hasn't got a hope in hell.